Madison County has 227,658 people currently on its registered voter list.

Gray, who has worked in the court system for 25 years, said the county has long seen a similar trend, a solid number of those asked to show up for jury duty, just skip it.

"We probably take 50-60 calls right after the notices go out," Gray said. "Those are people who usually need to be excused, they're elderly, have a medical problem or a work hardship, they own their own business and have nobody to fill in"

Gray said her office will work with residents when they have a legitimate problem or conflict, including postponing jury service until they can serve.

Jury duty in Alabama pays $10 per day and 5 cents a mile. It's far from lucrative and can involve many idle hours, waiting for something to do.

But Presiding Circuit Judge Karen Hall said the fact that a jury is about to be seated often has the effect of leading to the settlement of cases. So even though the jury pool often doesn't see a lot of action, they are moving things forward.

Jury notices are required to be sent out within 21-27 days of the week of service. Gray said her office will sometimes get calls from people who missed service, where a notice fell through the cracks -- people have moved and the address change wasn't yet noticed.

But plenty of people don't call and never show up.

Hall said that failure to obey the law is a pattern that needs to stop and wants local citizens to know the potential consequences for failing to answer the jury summons.

Under the law, a person summoned for jury duty who fails to show up and does not have a good excuse can be deemed by a judge to be in contempt of court. If the measure were enforced, the person who didn't show up when called is required to show the court "good cause" why they not be found in contempt.

If they fail to show up the next time they are called and still don't have a good excuse, the law says they can be fined up to $300 and imprisoned up to 10 days.

Under the law, a jury pool for a capital case requires a minimum of 36 potential jurors, but the judges and the attorneys usually seek a much higher number. The legal requirement for the jury pool in a felony case, where the death penalty is not an option is at least 24 panelists and 18 are required for the pool in a misdemeanor. Gray said every panel the court administrator's office sends to the judges consists of at least 30 people.

Hall said jury service is vital to a functioning court system and a lack of jurors can have an effect on both civil and criminal case. And for those who get to serve on a jury, it has a lasting effect, Hall said.

"Without fail, every time I try a case, at least one juror will approach me afterward," Hall said. "They talk about much they learned about how the system actually works and say, 'I'm so glad I did this."'

Hall pointed out that it's extremely rare for a jury trial to go longer than a week.

With the current summons response rate and requested panel sizes, the judge noted, if all seven Madison County Circuit judges were trying a case the same week, they couldn't get started and trials would have to be delayed.